3055 ROMANIA (Bucharest) - Postcrossing Meetup, Bucharest, 14 May 2017

For the postcard realised on the occasion of the 28th meetup of the Romanian postcrossers, that took place in Bucharest on May 14, Mihnea Răducu (who usually deals with this) chose a peony, maybe because it blooms in this month, but mainly because Romfilatelia has recently issued the series Flowers, National Symbols, and one of the stamps depicts even the peony, Romania's national symbol flower. Peony (Paeonia peregrina) is a species of flowering plant in the peony family Paeoniaceae, native to Southeastern Europe and Turkey.

3054 SINGAPORE (Central Region) - Singapore Sling

Raffles Hotel is a colonial-style luxury hotel in Singapore, established by Armenian hoteliers, the Sarkies Brothers, in 1887, and named after British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore. Initial only a ten-room hotel, in proximity to the beach, it has expanded over time, and in 1899 a new main building was constructed, designed by architect Regent Alfred John Bidwell of Swan and Maclaren, which also expanded over the years.

3052 RUSSIA (Primorsky Krai) - Zolotoy Bridge in Vladivostok

The 24th annual gathering of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) leaders was held on Russky Island, off the coast of Vladivostok, Russia on September 9-10, 2012. Two giant cable-stayed bridges were built in preparation for the summit, namely the Zolotoy Bridge over the Zolotoy Rog (Golden Horn) bay in the downtown, and Russky Bridge from mainland to Russky Island (which is the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world right now).

3051 ITALY (Liguria) - Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli (UNESCO WHS)

The Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli in Genoa's historic centre date from the late 16th and early 17th centuries when the Republic of Genoa was at the height of its financial and seafaring power. The property represents the first example in Europe of an urban development project parcelled out by a public authority within a unitary framework and associated to a particular system of "public lodging" in private residences, as decreed by the Senate in 1576.

3050 TANZANIA - Mount Meru

Located 70km west of Mount Kilimanjaro, just north of the city of Arusha, Mount Meru is a dormant stratovolcano, which constitutes the topographic centerpiece of Arusha National Park. At a height of 4,562.13m, it is visible from Mount Kilimanjaro on a clear day, and is the second-highest mountain in Tanzania, and the fifth in Africa. Its fertile slopes rise above the surrounding savanna and support a forest that hosts diverse wildlife, including nearly 400 species of birds, and also monkeys and leopards.

0109, 3049 VIETNAM (Mekong Delta) - Floating markets in Cần Thơ

3049 Cái Răng floating market

Posted on 27.01.2012, 12.05.2017

With an estimated population of 1,121,000 as of 2004, Cần Thơ is the biggest city in the Mekong Delta,  being regarded as Western capital of Vietnam. Located on the south bank of the Hậu River, the bigger branch of the Mekong River, it has a reputation for being a welcoming place, where everybody is smiling and welcoming. Cần Thơ is famous also for its floating markets, where people sell and buy things on the river, and can be quite freely visited on board smaller boats.

0109 A floating market in Cần Thơ

Farmers from the region bring their goods, fruits and vegetables mainly, to the markets and sell them to local dealers. These dealers sell the products to shops in the neighboring towns and to wholesale dealers from the big towns. All big boats have a pole. Each wholesaler hangs the goods he buys/sells on this pole. On the floating markets you don't find only people buying and selling goods, but also floating restaurants, floating bars, floating gas stations, and many other floating shops.

1374, 3048 TANZANIA - Stone Town of Zanzibar (UNESCO WHS)

3048 Old Fort of Zanzibar

Posted on 24.12.2014, 12.05.2017
Zanzibar (name originated from the Perso-Arabic word meaning "the coast of the blacks") is the semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, composed of the Zanzibar Archipelago, 25-50 km off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba. Its capital is Zanzibar City, located on the island of Unguja, which comprises two main parts, Stone Town and Ng'ambo.

1374 The wooden doors of Zanzibar

Stone Town, also known as Mji Mkongwe (Swahili for "old town"), is the historical core of the city, former capital of the Zanzibar Sultanate, a flourishing centre of the spice trade as well as the slave trade in the 19th century. It is a city of prominent historical and artistic importance in East Africa, and its architecture, mostly dating back to the 19th century, reflects the diverse influences underlying the Swahili culture, a unique mixture of Arab, Persian, Indian and European elements. For many centuries there was intense seaborne trading activity between Asia and Africa, and this is illustrated by the architecture and urban structure of the Stone Town.

3047 SINGAPORE (Central Region) - Sultan Mosque

Masjid Sultan, or Sultan Mosque, is the principal place of Islamic worship in Singapore, located at Muscat Street and North Bridge Road within the Kampong Glam precinct of the district of Rochor. Built between 1924 and 1928 by the architect Denis Santry of Swan and Maclaren, who adopted a Saracenic style, it has stayed essentially unchanged since then, with only repairs carried out to the main hall in the 1960s and an annex added in 1993.

0879, 0897, 0898, 3046 RUSSIA (Republic of Karelia) - Kizhi Pogost (UNESCO WHS)

0897 Kizhi Pogost in the springtime

Posted on 26.11.2013, 11.12.2013, 11.05.2017
The term pogost has several meanings in the Russian language, but initial appoint a coaching inn for princes and ecclesiastics. It is assumed that originally pogosts were rural communities on the periphery of the Russian state, as well as trading centers, but at the end of the 10th century pogosts transformed into administrative districts, and when Christianity spread, churches were built there. In 1775 the last pogosts that served as administrative districts were destroyed. In the central uyezds of 15th-16th centuries pogosts were small settlements with a church and a graveyard, like Kizhi Pogost.

0879 Kizhi Pogost in the summertime (1)

Kizhi Pogost is located on the southern part of the island with the same name, on Lake Onega, the second largest lake in Europe (after Lake Ladoga), and was built in the 17th century. It is a narrow strip of land inside a fence which includes two large wooden churches, the 22-dome Transfiguration Church (the big one) and the 9-dome Intercession of the Virgin Church (the little one), and a belfry (with conical tip). The structures were built exclusively of wood, without using a single nail, around a log of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) about 30 cm in diameter and 3 to 5 meters long. 

3046 Kizhi Pogost in the summertime (2)

It is regarded an "outstanding example of an architectural ensemble typical of medieval and post-medieval orthodox settlements in sparsely populated regions", and for this reason was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in 1990. These amazing structures, in which the science of carpentry created a bold visionary architecture, perpetuate a very ancient model of parish space. Chronicles from the 16th century are the first to explicitly mention the existence of two wooden churches there. Destroyed by lightning in 1693, they were rebuilt on the same site. The Church of the Intercession is a heated (winter) church, where services are held from October 1 until Easter.

0898 Kizhi Pogost in the falltime

As Max say, there is two legends about the building of the Church of the Transfiguration.
Legend 1 (for tourists): The church was built by master Nestor, only with a hatchet and without nails. When he had finished the construction work, he threw the hatchet into Onega Lake, saying: "There was nothing like this before and will never be again!”
Legend 2 (probably true): The architects were Peter Nevzorov and a peasant named Buniak, both elders, each of them being 80 years old. The church construction involving 63 men and 12 women.

2609, 3044 UNITED NATIONS - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

2609 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 28

Posted on 12.06.2016, 10.05.2017
The term "human rights" was mentioned seven times in the UN's founding Charter, making the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the Organization. On 10 December 1948 the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which arose directly from the experience of the WWII and represents the first global expression of what many people believe to be the rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled.

3044 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 9

The Declaration consists of thirty articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, economic transfers, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions, and other laws. UDHR, together with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols form the International Bill of Human Rights, which in 1976 took on the force of international law.

3043 RUSSIA (Moscow) - Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow (UNESCO WHS)

3043 Moscow Kremlin seen from the Moscow River

Inextricably linked to all the most important historical and political events in Russia since the 13th century, the Kremlin (built between the 14th and 17th centuries by outstanding Russian and foreign architects) was the place where the Russian state was formed, where the issue of succession to the throne was decided, in medieval times, where the Boyar Duma held its sessions, where the Church held its councils and where were crowned the tsars, even when the capital had been shifted to St. Petersburg.

0974, 2388, 3042 SINGAPORE (Central Region) - Gardens by the Bay

2388 Gardens by the Bay - Aerial view

Gardens by the Bay is a park found on reclaimed land in central Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir, which consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden. It is an integral part of a strategy to transform Singapore from a "Garden City" to a "City in a Garden". The final construction cost for the project, not including the price of the land but including an access road, drainage works, and soil improvement, will be within a $1.035 billion allocated budget.

0974 Gardens by the Bay - The Supertree Grove

Supertrees are tree-like structures that dominate the Gardens' landscape with heights that range between 25m and 50m. Actually they are vertical gardens that perform a multitude of functions, which include planting, shading and working as environmental engines for the gardens. They are fitted with environmental technologies that mimic the ecological function of trees - photovoltaic cells that harness solar energy, just like how trees photosynthesize; and collection of rainwater, exactly like how trees absorb rainwater for growth.

3042 Gardens by the Bay - Panoramic view (310x105mm)

Over 162,900 plants comprising more than 200 species and varieties of bromeliads, orchids, ferns and tropical flowering climbers are planted on the Supertrees. There is an elevated walkway, the OCBC Skyway, between two of the larger Supertrees for visitors to enjoy a breathtaking aerial view of the Gardens. A food and beverage outlet is planned atop the 50m Supertree. At night, the Supertrees come alive with a light and music show called the OCBC Garden Rhapsody.

3041 NORWAY - Norwegian Royal House

3041 King Harald V, Queen Sonja,
Crown Prince Haakon, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit

Norway is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. In this country there is a distinction between the Royal House and the Royal Family, i.e. the Royal House includes only the monarch and his or her spouse, the heir apparent and his or her spouse, and the heir apparent's eldest child. Therefor, in nowadays members of the Royal House are King Harald V, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and Princess Ingrid Alexandra.

3040 INDIA (Chandigarh) - Chandigarh Capitol Complex - part of The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement (UNESCO WHS)

3040 Chandigarh - Palace of Assembly

Le Corbusier's largest and most ambitious project was the design of Chandigarh, the capital city of the Haryana & Punjab State of India, created after India received independence in 1947. Le Corbusier was contacted in 1950 by Prime Minister Nehru of India, and invited to propose a project. An American architect, Albert Mayer, had made a plan in 1947 for a city of 150,000 inhabitants, but the Indian government wanted a grander and more monumental city.

3039 GERMANY (North Rhine-Westphalia) - Church of Saint Reinold in Dortmund

3039 Old market square with Church of Saint Reinold

The Lutheran Protestant Church of Saint Reinold is, according to its foundation date, the oldest extant church in Dortmund. It was built as a palatine church in the Ottonian era, between 1250 and 1270, and is dedicated to Reinold, also known as Renaud de Montauban, the patron of the city. The present building is a late Romanesque church with a late gothic quire. Located in the centre of the city, directly at the crossing of the Hellweg (a historic trade route) and the historic road from Cologne to Bremen.

3038 RUSSIA (Moscow) - Tsar Cannon - part of Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow (UNESCO WHS)

The Tsar Cannon is a large medieval artillery piece on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin, just past the Kremlin Armory. It is a monument of Russian artillery casting art, cast in bronze in 1586 in Moscow, by the Russian master bronze caster Andrey Chokhov. Mostly of symbolic impact, it was never used in a war. Per the Guinness Book of Records it is the largest bombard by caliber in the world. The very low ratio of the length of its barrel to its caliber makes it technically not a cannon, but a stylized mortar.

1611, 3037 UNITED STATES (Colorado) - Colorado map

Posted on 27.05.2015, 05.05.2017
Bordered by Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona at the Four Corners, Colorado is noted for its vivid landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers, and desert lands. It encompass most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains, being the only U.S. state that lies entirely above 1000m elevation. It owes its name to the Colorado River, whereon the Spanish travelers named so for the ruddy (Spanish: colorado) silt the river carried from the mountains.